Trips to launch a new label, Field Trips

Plus, 91X reveals thelineup for X-Fest

Trips, a band that changed its name from Jesus A.D. last fall, has announced plans to start a record label called Field Trips, a partnership with San Diego-based Bleeding Gold Records. The label's first releases will be by Trips and side projects featuring Trips' members, but it will eventually branch out and release music by other bands.

"For a long time, I've wanted to start a small label that works on helping small bands who are putting out things themselves—more of a DIY feel," says frontman Jakob McWhinney, talking to CityBeat on the smoking patio at The Ould Sod in Normal Heights.

The first project for Field Trips is a double-vinyl release made up of solo work by Trips' four members: McWhinney, guitarist Ren Rogers, bassist Frank Mindingall and drummer Skylar Eppler. The band is still wrapping up recordings for the release, tentatively scheduled for late 2014 or early 2015.

"Right now, we're focusing on trying to get some kind of online presence," McWhinney says of Field Trips. The idea, he says, is to eventually offer wider distribution options to smaller bands that could use exposure outside of San Diego.

"I've spent so long watching my friends need that one step, or that one thing that enabled them," he says. "It just felt like the right time to do it."

Trips will debut some of the material included on the upcoming two-LP release when they play at Soda Bar on April 7.

The annual 91X X-Fest lineup has been announced. This year, 311, Panic! At the Disco, Iration, Phantogram, Skaters, Bleachers, Kongos and Sir Sly will perform. The event happens May 30 at Sleep Train Amphitheatre.